Gun Gale Online: Erebus
by KaiserBlak
Summary: Kayaba Akihiko once dreamed of actualizing a world of swords, a floating castle, a fictional fantasy. But people change and Kayaba is no exception. Players welcome to Gun Gale Online where guns rule supreme and swords are obsolete... well unless you're Kirito that is.
1. Prelude to Darkness

Gun Gale Online: Erebus

Summary: Kayaba Akihiko once dreamed of actualizing a world of swords, a floating castle, a fictional fantasy. But people change and Kayaba is no exception. Players welcome to Gun Gale Online where guns rule supreme and swords are obsolete... well unless you're Kirito that is. KiritoxSinonxHarem

An alternate reality where instead of SAO it was GGO that was released as the first VRMMORPG.

Sorry about the late update...hahaha I just suddenly was obsessed with other animes and school happened. Also semester exams sucks. From now on I won't make any promises on when I will update, too high of a risk that I won't make it.

Author Note: Okay, so thanks to majority vote- and some personal motivation from ToumaFF's chat group and my own thought- I have decided to rewrite it. And in my personal opinion this will have a darker tone.

Hope you enjoy!

Talking-"Kirito-kun"

Thoughts-'_Kyaa!?'_

Game Terms-«Photon Blade: Hades»

System Announcement/Private Messages- -congratulations-

Passive Skills: **Divinity**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online wish I did though. Also will also used a bit of Kayaba Akihiko's translated speech from Baka-Tsuki but only this once.

Prologue: Prelude to Darkness

* * *

It was 22 September 2022, the last day of the beta testing for the new «VRMMORPG», «Gun Gale Online».

The genius Kayaba Akihiko had created the machine known as Nerve Gear, a device that literally placed you into virtual reality where you played the game while your real body laid motionless.

And to go along with the new machine, Argus, the company that Kayaba worked for and that helped to create the Nerve Gear, announced the release of «Gun Gale Online», more commonly known as GGO.

However there would be only a maximum number of forty thousand Nerve Gears made, which meant that only forty thousands players would be able to get their hands on a Nerve Gear upon their release and the game's official launch on November 22nd, 2022. However five hundred people were chosen to beta test the new game, in other words they had a sneak peak at the game where guns ruled the apocalyptic land of GGO.

And today was the last day of the beta test.

-line break-

"Hey Captain how much longer are we going to take to get to our destination?" A single player dressed and equipped like soldier and holding an assault rifle weapon, one of a group of five trekking back towards «Starting City», questioned.

"Shut up! We'll get there when we get there." A gruff voice called out from the apparent captain of the group.

Soon jeers were called out from the other thee members of the party to shut the lone player up as well, as his yapping had gotten on their nerves.

Of course across the barren and desolate continent that was the setting of GGO, about ninety meters away, the two players watching the group of five could not hear this.

Only one of them was standing. At first glance most people would believe the standing person to be female. But that player wasn't female, it was a male player named «Kirito».

Kirito's avatar was of about average height, though quite skinny, and had waist length long hair, a delicate face, lush lips, and black orbs that held a tint of mischief.

The black haired male wore a long black coat over his black shirt and pants along with a chest guard. A black utility belt hung around his waist, wrapped around the outside of the coat. On it was his «Kagemitsu G4», one of the game's strongest weapons, but at the same time one of the game's few close range melee weapons. It had taken Kirito almost all of his savings to buy it just two days earlier. To some it would be foolish, however to Kirito, a real life kendo champion who was able to predict the «bullet lines», the Kagemitsu G4, or more commonly called the Photon Sword, was a valuable tool that the black haired swordsman used to slice his opponent's bullets in half and strike them down in one hit. It was his replacement weapon for the «Kagemitsu G1», a weaker version of the G4 with about one fourth of its strength that could be attained at the beginner's shop. In fact, thanks to the ability to cut down bullets he had gained in the game he had won the kendo championship, something that pleased his grandfather very much. On the other side of the belt was the «Desert Eagle Mark I», one of the most powerful handguns attainable at the current moment. It was by no means the strongest, but for now the Desert Eagle was sufficient.

The player next to Kirito was laying on her stomach, aiming at the group of players with the «M40 Rifle». As a rifle with over a nine hundred meter range, sniping targets a mere ninety meters away from the target was child's play for any «sniper type» player, even more so for the one known as «Sinon».

Sinon, unlike Kirito, laid on her stomach with her left eye closed and her right eye peering into the scope, right at the leader's head. She wore a pure white scarf stained only by the single ebony line running from one tip to the other, short black shorts, a white tank top made of same reflective material as her scarf, covered by a black jacket, along with black stockings and black combats boots.

Generally «sniper type» players were exceptionally rare, and the reason wasn't because of the shortage of «rifle type» weapons. Rather it was because no one could actually snipe accurately in this virtual reality.

Why?

Because of Kayaba's obsession with creating a perfect reality, sniping was just as hard as it was in real life, possibly even harder. The Nerve Gear even took the player's heart rate into account.

For a player to snipe successfully, he or she must press the trigger at the perfect moment, right after the heart beat or it would alter the trajectory of the bullet. For most players their heartbeat would speed to the point that they wouldn't get a chance to pull the trigger due to the speed of the beat.

However Sinon was different. Unlike most others, she was a machine, a machine made of ice.

Sinon slowly breathed out and in as her sniper-scope followed the leader of the other group. "Kirito, we'll engage the players in six hundred seconds."

Kirito nodded his head as he started to run. There was an unspoken message between them, when Sinon said that they'd engage the players, what she meant was that she'd snipe the leader down and Kirito had five minutes to get to the ambush point and wait for the group.

Dashing towards the designated point, his body nearly touching ground, Kirito looked like a black blur moving through all the stray rocks and rubble along the landscape. It was necessary to run in such a fashion because if Kirito kept his head high he would've been easily spotted, and an easier target that did happen.

'_Good one minute to spare.' _Kirito thought as he checked the digital clock that could be turned on in the player's view by configuring the settings.

Leaning on the giant slab of rock that obscured the other group's view on him, Kirito unhooked the Photon Sword with his right hand and pulled out the Desert Eagle with his left. Slowly his breathing quieted and his alertness increased.

One could say this was Kirito's «Battle Mode». Unlike just slowed down her heart and adopted a more rational line of thought, Kirito's battle mode made his eyes lose all of their playfulness, instead gaining an eerie gleam that spoke of bloodlust. Of course that wasn't all that changed, his perception of time seemed to speed up, making everything around him slow down, and his mind followed a more ruthless train of thought.

Kill or be Killed.

That was Kirito's principle in this death game.

Kirito narrowed his eyes as his ears picked up the faint sound of feet stomping...quietly he adjusted his position to face the general direction of the sound, resting his thumb on the photon sword's trigger.

The footsteps were getting louder, they were still quiet, but to Kirito their sound was akin to a behemoth's stomping.

3

2

1

Bang!

"Riodao!"

A distressed call reached Kirito's ears as Sinon's bullet reached its mark.

"Guys don't panic get into forma-"

The player never had the chance to finish as Kirito leaped out from behind the rock. With a simple downward slash of his activated photon sword, the player's health dropped to zero in an instant.

The sound of glass shattering could be easily heard as the rest of the players stared, dumbfounded, at Kirito, whether out of surprise at the sword user's sudden ambush or shock at the most recent death was not known, perhaps a little bit of both.

Kirito smirked as he took the opening without a second thought and cut down the second person.

The final two players of the group finally snapped out of their stupor and aimed their assault rifles at Kirito.

The sound of bullets leaving the two rifles disrupted the eerie silence of the otherwise quiet and desolate land.

However Kirito, having already expected that, once again dashed, only this time it was not at them but away from them in a zigzagging pattern. Of course he couldn't run forever, and he knew that. With a sharp turn Kirito hid behind one of the rocks that made a natural shield against the bullets.

It wasn't much longer until the two remaining players stopped firing, and despite their best attempt to creep towards Kirito, they might as well have been stomping towards the black-garbed swordsman.

Bang!

Unfortunately for the two players they had totally forgotten about the sniper that took out their leader. In their fear of Kirito they had forgotten to factor in Sinon, and that had cost them.

"Zeke!" The last remaining player called out in shock at the disappearing polygons of what was once his friend.

Suddenly the man's eyes widened (not that you could tell since a gas mask was covering his face) as he remembered the swordsman, "Shit!" hoping that his last ditch maneuver would kill the swordsman, he pressed the trigger of his rifle at the general that Kirito was hiding in.

However to his surprise no one was in front of him. _'Something's wrong, why didn't he kill me when I was distracted? Something's not right.' _"I know you're there! Come out!"

Suddenly he saw a black blur towards his left, quickly aiming his rifle towards the left he fired and to his shock the swordsman sliced the bullet with a diagonal downward slash, seemingly without effort.

But the player kept shooting, knowing he would undoubtedly be PKed if he didn't. However it didn't matter to Kirito, who had two months of experience slicing bullets apart with his sword. So with narrowed eyes Kirito focused all his attention onto the moving projectiles. His arm blurred as it sliced the majority of them apart; the ones that weren't cut flying past him harmlessly.

It was just over too quickly and before the man knew it, the swordsman's photon sword had already sliced him in half.

'_Thanatos...'_

That was the last thought that lingered in the soon to be dead player's head as Kirito's face was burned into his mind at his last moments.

-line break-

«Starting City», as its name implies, was the starting point of the game, the place where beginning players first spawn, and also the largest city discovered so far, going about ten kilometers in diameter.

But right now, it was quite deserted, due to the fact that the beta test was almost over and not many players were left. It wasn't that they didn't care for the game, but being forcibly ejected from the virtual world wasn't a pleasant feeling, something all the beta players learned the hard way when the server crashed on accident near the beginning of the beta.

But that wasn't a concern for Kirito and Sinon at the moment as they walked side by side through the streets. As they walked, the remaining players made a wide berth for the duo.

It wasn't because of their beauty, hell if it was they would've been swamped with guys (some of which would be disappointed or even devastated when they found out Kirito-chan was actually Kirito-kun). No, the reason for the wide berth was due to their (in)famous status as Gun Gale Online's strongest «Player Killers», not that Kirito and Sinon were bothered by that much.

"So...today's the last day of the beta..." Kirito started awkwardly.

Sinon stayed silent as she continued to walk side by side.

Kirito just sighed at Sinon's silence, they were partners yes, but that didn't mean they were close friends. The only reason they worked together was because «Argo the Rat» introduced them, and the fact that their strategy made them the most feared PKers in all of GGO.

But other than that they were complete strangers, well not that it was surprising considering this was a MMORPG where you could becomes friends with someone you knew nothing about. But this wasn't just any MMORPG, this was a VRMMORPG, like a second reality. Sometimes Kirito would wonder if their partnership or even the small amount of friendship they formed was real.

"Kirito-kun..."

You could almost hear Kirito's neck snap due to the speed that he turned his head in surprise at Sinon's choice of words. Sinon never used the suffix of -kun ever with his name, in fact she hardly outright said his name.

"We'll meet again in the opening right?" Sinon by now had completely stopped and stood facing Kirito directly, a motion which Kirito unconsciously copied.

Kirito for his part was quite flabbergasted at Sinon's tone of voice. The normal Sinon was a calm, collected, and cool type of person. However Kirito could tell by her body language ,whether it was an unconscious or conscious effort, that Sinon was actually very defensive. Even her own voice hid her feelings, concealing her true self to him.

Kirito inwardly smiled sadly at that, the similarity of her mask to his was remarkable. The only difference was that his mask was one in real life.

"Yes, of course"

But at this moment the normally emotionless Sinon seemed so weak, oh so very weak before Kirito.

It just didn't seem to fit with the machine made of ice that Kirito usually worked with, but somehow to Kirito this was the real Sinon, covered by the barrier of ice.

"You aren't lying right?" Sinon's voice held an edge that wasn't present before even when they hunted other players together.

Looking into Sinon's eyes that seemed to resemble the eyes of a cat that was staring intently at something dangling before her but was too far away to reach, Kirito's eyes twitched as he could almost see Sinon's phantom cat ears twitching as she asked the question.

Kirito resisted the urge to pet her head no matter how much he wanted to, because if he did he would probably earn a bullet between his eyes and nothing, not even the city's crime prevention code, would stop Sinon if she were to do that.

So Kirito just smiled, "Of course. Well unless you change your username, but I'm sure I can pay Argo to find you again."

Sinon's raised one of her eyebrows as she stared at the male player before her, "You know Argo is probably going to charge you a fortune for the information."

Kirito chuckled as he heard this, "Even if it costs me all of my credits to find you, it would be worth it. We're friends after all."

Sinon's eyes widened at Kirito's words, she was stunned at what her partner said. Before she schooled her features again and smiled back. "You better, or else you might find a bullet between your eyes."

This time it was Kirito's turn to widen his eyes. Sure, Sinon had smiled in front of him before, but all those times were smirks or forced smiles that didn't reach her eyes. But this time, despite the same cool looking air around her, her smile seemed to come from her heart.

Despite this, Kirito smirked as a wicked entered his train of thoughts. Without warning Kirito hugged Sinon with a full body hug, greatly surprising the female. "You know Sinonon if you smile like that, guys are going to flock you like pests."

Kirito then stepped back as he watched Sinon's reaction, his body was tense and ready to scram at a moment's notice.

Sinon for her part just stood there stunned until her brain finally processed what Kirito had just done and said to her.

Her reaction was something that Kirito hadn't predicted, Sinon's face blushed madly as her brain finally finished comprehended what the boy had done.

Kirito for his part was surprised at Sinon's reaction, never in his dreams did he expect the girl before him to blush like that.

"Ki-k-Kiri-KIRITO!"

Ah, that was Kirito's signal to run for his life, and of course without wasting a moment that was just what he did.

"Come back here asshole and stay still!"

"No way! I want to live!"

"Then maybe you should have thought about that before you hugged me!"

Despite all the shouting the two were smiling, their eyes shining in delight.

-line break-

In a darkly lit bedroom the Nerve Gear's green LED lights flashed several times before it completely stopped, showing that the console was shut down.

With little difficulty the fourteen year old girl took off the machine and laid it on the table next to the bed she was on. The female had short black hair with her bangs slightly longer than the rest of her hair, black eyes, and a face that one could describe as doll like.

Her name was Asada Shino, otherwise known as Sinon in Gun Gale Online.

Turning her head she looked at the clock, "Eleven fifty-nine huh?" the black haired girl said aloud to herself.

With a tired sigh, the girl snuggled under her bed covers and tried to sleep purposely not bothering to brush her teeth and the other actions she should have done before going to bed, but Shino was just too tired and her mind too occupied to bother doing such trivial stuff, besides, not doing it once or twice wouldn't hurt.

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

_We're friends after all_

Those words, along with the image of the long haired avatar of the boy, kept replaying in her mind over and over again.

Shino curled into a small ball as she kept replaying that scene over and over again. Never in her dreams did she think that anyone would say those words to her again. Ever since _that_ incident she had believed she'd never hear them again, even in a game.

Suddenly the cold hand of the devil's advocate clamped onto her heart.

"_What if Kirito founds about my sins!?"_

"_What if he doesn't want to be friends anymore!?"_

"_What if he condemns me!?"_

"_What if..."_

"_What if..."_

"_What if..."_

That night Sinon fell asleep between the warmth of Kirito's words and the fear of his rejection.

It was strange how one statement could evoke such contradicting comfort and fear into a single person.

-line break-

Kirigaya Kazuto yawned as he tried to pay attention to class and not doze off due to his lack of sleep...that or the teacher had the unique skill to bore students to death just by mere presence, as evident by the nodding heads of the other students in the classroom.

It wasn't the onyx eyed fourteen year old's fault that he was very busy yesterday, to the point that he couldn't go to sleep until eleven fifty-nine...playing GGO...

Indeed Kirigaya Kazuto was the player known as Kirito in GGO. Much like his avatar, Kirito showed the same bishounen look that he had within in the game, only he wasn't as thin and had shorter hair that barely reached past his chin.

Speaking of which, he should really get a haircut, otherwise Kazuto was well on his way to emulate his avatar's looks, whether the boy knew it or not.

DING~ DONG~

Luckily for Kazuto and his classmates, they were saved by the bell.

Wasting no time Kazuto packed his material efficiently and as fast as possible. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't fast enough.

"Hey Kazuto-san are you busy today? Want to go to the arcade with us?"

A nondescript and unimportant male classmate asked the boy. If a bystander were to see it, they would be confused as to why a male about a few years older than Kazuto would ask him that, or even the fact that Kazuto looked a few years younger than all the other students in the same classroom.

The reason was simple, Kirigaya Kazuto was a natural genius, which allowed him to skip a few years of school thanks to his fast learning pace. But that wasn't all, since a month ago when Kazuto became the youngest kendo champion at age fourteen, his classmates' attitude, which had been borderline dislike due to him being the teacher's favorite and the fact that they were envious of his genius, made a one-eighty degree turn. Now they all wanted to become his friend, most likely because of the fame that went along with being his friend.

"Sorry, but I have to pick my sister today" Kazuto excused himself once again with an awkward smile.

In fact that was his most common excuse since it was technically true, but this happened only recently. In fact his sister, Kirigaya Suguha, didn't even really need to be picked up by him.

"Ah that's fine, maybe next time then." Kazuto's classmate replied and he waved his arm nonchalantly and walked back towards his friends.

Sighing in relief Kazuto slung his school bag along with his shinai holding bag that contained his two shinais and walked through the doors.

Kazuto's school wasn't anything special, you could call it an average school with just its looks. If there was one thing that was uncommon about it, it would be the fact that the high school had a junior high school building on the same campus.

-line break-

Shino tried to suppress her whimper, but nonetheless it still escaped her lips that were covered by her white muffler. Currently she had just been shoved into the wall of an alley by three of her classmates who were wearing the same type of uniform as her, except that their skirts were far shorter.

The leader of the three girl gang was called Endou, and ever since the robbery incident in which Shino had killed the robber in self defense, she had been the bane of Shino's existence.

No amount of words could describe the single life changing event that the black haired girl had experienced two years ago.

Ever since that event, her life had taken a turn for the worst. Her old friends broke their bond of friendship, she was ostracized, and now Endou and her gang was stealing money from her.

"Come on bitch, give us the money!"

Shino scrunched her eyes and she shook her head negatively with all her might despite the fact that Endou was forcing Shino against the wall by grabbing her collars.

Suddenly a cruel glint entered the bully's eye and mocking smile made its way to her face, which was heavily covered with makeup, as she she pointed her left hand at Shino's temple, her fingers in the shape of a gun.

"Bang!"

A blood curdling scream rang out as Shino was forcibly reminded of her trauma. Her body was trembling all over as he lost all the strength in her feet and slid down against the wall, her her eyes frantically darting around.

Shino's body was chilled with fear and her heart beating rapidly, this was Asada Shino's true face. A little girl with hoplophobia so much unlike Sinon the sniper made of ice who could slow down her heartbeat at will.

Attempting to look sinister the three girls moved in closer towering over Shino. If any competent villain were to see this, they would cry at how horribly they were failing at being evil.

But to Shino, whose irrational fear of guns had already clamped its cold hands on her heart, the towering girls were striking indescribable fear into her heart.

"Hey, what are you girls doing?" A silky voice containing no small amount of confidence made the girls pause in their assault.

In fear the three girls quickly turned around, only to laugh at the person who asked the question.

Said person was about their age, black haired, black eyed, and obviously male. But he looked quite feminine.

"Go away if you know what's good for you pretty boy." Endou growled, not liking the fact that she had been scared out of her wits by a weak looking boy.

"Let me think about...how about no." The boy fearlessly replied as he stared Endou square into the eye.

Endou flinched at the intensity of the boy's stare. Growling in irritation she took out a taser. Shino briefly wondered how she came into possession of it, but quickly threw the question out; no doubt her irresponsible brother gave it to her. No matter how she acted, Endou wasn't stupid enough to try to fight a boy straight on. A male's body naturally had more strength than girls no matter how feminine he looked.

With small battle cry Endou charged at the boy, Shino closed her eyes, ignoring Endou's lackeys cheering. She didn't want to see the boy tased because of her.

"GAH!"

There was a cry of pain alright, but to Shino's surprise it was Endou's high pitched voice that cried out.

Opening her eyes, they widened to see Endou clutching her hand in pain and the boy holding an oddly black colored shinai in his right hand. Looking at his left, Shino could clearly see the boy's kendo bag. It was unzipped.

"What are you two doing? Get him!" Endou ordered her two lackeys furiously.

The two girls, like the idiotic counterparts of two certain wizard brutes of a blonde asshole, nodded and each took out a taser, no doubt given to them by Endou.

Warily the two girls inched closer to the black haired boy, who didn't seem to be worried at all. Instead he wore a pleasant smile, which was far more menacing than Endou's sinister smirk, or rather her attempt at one.

The two girls charged at the boy in unison, however quicker than the eye could follow the shinai moved upwards and struck the taser out of the girl's hand on the boy's right side; just as fast as it came up the shinai came down and struck the taser out of the other girl's hand in a single motion, the strike resembling the form of a reversed 'V'.

However the girls weren't discouraged, the one on the right moving forward, but the boy moved faster and thrust his shinai forward, eliciting painful gasp from the struck girl as she collapsed onto her knees, holding her stomach.

'_That must've been very painful.'_ But Shino couldn't bring herself to be sorry for the girl, not after what they put her through.

Waiting for the other girl to break out of her stupor, the boy used his right foot as a pivot and turned sharply around and made a horizontal slash at the girl's stomach. Of course it connected, and just like the first girl struck, she collapsed onto her knees holding her stomach in pain.

Before Shino could cry out to warn the boy whose back was facing her, Endou had already picked up her taser and was running towards the boy, a cowardly tactic.

To both girl's surprise the boy sidestepped to the right without looking back, making Endou miss . Before she could recover, the pummel of the boy's shinai connected with Endou's stomach.

You don't need me to tell how that ended do you? No, of course not.

The black haired boy slid his shinai back into its bag as he walked to Shino and offered his hand. "Are you alright?"

-Line Break-

"Are you alright?" Kazuto asked the girl before him as he offered his hand.

Kazuto hadn't planned to be the black armored knight that saved the girl, but he had heard a scream and of course rushed to the source, only to find three girls cornering one.

Kazuto didn't fancy himself as hero or anything of the sort, if you were to ask him he would probably tell you he was more of a villain (due to his PKing tendencies). But that didn't mean Kazuto wouldn't help someone in need.

He had almost laughed at the girl's pitiful attempt to scare him, although he was irked at the "pretty boy" comment.

Now that Kazuto was closer, Kazuto identified the girl as Asada Shino. Despite the fact that fact that he was in the high school division of his school and Shino was in the junior high school division, Kazuto had heard of the less than pleasant rumors about the girl. But the bullying was a total surprise for him.

The girl meekly took his hand as he gently lifted her up and nodded in an affirmative motion.

"Are you able to go home by yourself?" Came Kazuto's gentle question.

"Y-yes..."

Kazuto gave his best soothing smile as he tried to comfort her. He would've hugged her or something, but he didn't as it might scare the girl in front of him.

Shino quickly walked away from the alley but paused at the alley's entrance, puzzling Kazuto. "T-t-thank you..." She quietly murmured.

Kazuto smiled gently. "You're welcome."

After she was gone, Kazuto scrunched his brows in irritation. It seemed that he would have to reevaluate some of the rumors he had heard about the girl.

"You! Don't you know that girl is a murderer?" The painful sentence came from the apparent leader of the trio who Kazuto didn't care about.

"You mean Shino-san?" Kazuto asked as his cold onyx eyes stared impassively at the downed girl's eye making her flinch away, evidently the pain he delivered moments ago still fresh in her mind.

"Then why-"

Kazuto cut her off before she could finish her obvious question. "Yes, I heard all the rumors about this...murderer." he finished with obvious distaste.

Kazuto walked towards the girl and crouched down as he stared into her eyes. "But you're really stupid you know? If the girl really were a blood thirsting psychopath, wouldn't she have tried to murder you already?"

The girl averted her gaze. "But of course she isn't, that's why you're stealing her money and bullying her." Kazuto stood and started walking away, feeling the girl's glare at his back. He didn't care. "By the way, stop bullying her if you know what's good for you."

And with that, Kazuto resumed his walk towards his sister's school.

-line break-

Kirigaya Suguha let out an irritated cry as she swung down at her shinai at her opponent, a fellow classmate and kendo club member.

Her kendo sparring partner, Sasaki Setsuna, was a girl one year above her age and one year Suguha's senior. Despite that, their level of swordplay was about the same; it wasn't that Setsuna was weak, but rather the fact that Suguha was a genius at kendo that made them an even match.

Right now the rest of the kendo club members had already gone home, so the club room was empty except for the two.

The only reason Setsuna was still here was to wait with Suguha for her brother, who was running rather late.

For the past month, ever since Suguha's brother started to pick her up after school, Suguha's mood was at an all times high.

Unfortunately for Setsuna, she foolishly teased Suguha about being a bro-con. Biggest mistake in her life, that day Setsuna received bruises in places of her body that she hadn't even known existed.

And right now Suguha was in an irritable mood due to her late brother, and unfortunately for Setsuna, she was on the receiving end of Suguha's shinai, due the absence of said brother to take it out on.

"W-wait Suguha, let's rest a bit!" Setsuna panted out as she finally dropped her shinai in exhaustion.

Suguha reluctantly nodded as she took off the men* and sat in a seiza position on the side of the mat, Setsuna sprawled on the ground next to her panting. Unlike Setsuna, Suguha only had a light cover of sweat compared to her profusely sweating senior.

With a sharp gaze Suguha stared at the space in front of her, her mind deep in thought about her brother.

Her brother, Kirigaya Kazuto, was not someone who Suguha could claim that she knew well. Since young age her brother had been forced to train in kendo by their grandfather. However, unlike her who held an innate love for the art, Kazuto preferred the company of electronics.

Years ago Kazuto had tried to quit kendo during one of his training days in front of her grandfather, but all he got back was disdain and their grandfather's displeasure. Suguha, who had been hidden behind the dojo's door, had watched the attempt in secret. There had been a fleeting thought of running in front of her brother and saying that she would take his place, but she had frozen in fear as she watched her grandfather dish out his displeasure in the following spar between the elderly and young male.

Since that day Suguha felt as if she had failed her brother in some way, even though she knew that she wasn't obliged to. Nonetheless, the guilt ate her up.

It was even made worse when her brother started to distance himself four years ago, near the time when she started training in kendo from a local kendo school, rather than their grandfather.

The split between the siblings got even worse when Kazuto began to hate the art of kendo as she embraced it with all her will. Slowly but surely they drifted apart. It wasn't that Kazuto was angry at her, rather their differing opinions on kendo built an invisible wall between them.

But suddenly, after Kazuto had started to pick her up, starting nearly a week after he won the national kendo tournament, Suguha could see that he longer hated kendo, but rather held a subtle appreciation, not that Kazuto had noticed or would admit it.

Suguha for her part didn't care what caused the change, but she did enjoy being with her brother again, closing the gap that had widened years before.

Swoosh...

Suguha turned her head to see her brother walking in, scratching his cheek with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about being late, I was caught up in some business."

All Kazuto received was a piercing glare.

Suguha stood up and threw the bundle of kendo armor and clothing next to her at her brother.

Kazuto, who had the perhaps world's quickest reflexes of his age group, deftly caught it with a puzzled look.

When he looked at Suguha, he saw that she was pointing at the center of the stage with a glare.

"Sugu-"

Kazuto was cut off as Suguha increased her glare, "Spar. Now."

Kazuto sighed as he walked towards the changing room. He didn't need instruction, he had already familiarized himself with the area thanks to picking his sister up in the past month.

Minutes later Kazuto stood facing his sister, both his shinai in front of him crossed in an 'X' like fashion, unlike Suguha who, in comparison, used both hand to hold her bamboo shinai in a straight stance.

Setsuna, who was going to proctor the the spar, stared enviously at Kazuto's two shinai. The black shinai were prototypes of Japan's leading kendo producing company. They were made from the newest technology and integrated nano-carbon materials that were the envy of kendo professionals everywhere.

Kazuto had won it when he reached first place in the nationals. Originally there was only one, but the company made another one due to the fact that Kazuto was a Nito Ryuu** user. The Nito Ryuu, officially titled Niten Ichiryuu, was an uncommon style due to the difficulty that most people had with concentrating on two swords simultaneously. Most of the time they would hinder themselves, giving their opponent an easy win.

But Kazuto was different. He was a genius that could effortlessly wield two swords at the same time, never mind the fact that Kazuto used two shinai of the same length when most would used a katana-sized shinai and a wakizashi-sized shinai.

"Begin!" Setsuna called out as she brought her hand down, signaling the beginning of the match.

Immediately Suguha charged with unexpected ferocity. Unprepared for such attacks, Kazuto, despite all his skill, was pushed back by Suguha's reckless blows.

He gritted his teeth as he was being forced to give ground, despite not having eyes on the back of his head Kazuto could tell that he would be pushed out of the ring if he backed up any more.

But he couldn't really stop himself from being pushed back due to the furious onslaught of Suguha's attacks. This was the major weakness of nitoryu. The fact that you could only use one hand to use the shinai meant that the strength behind the attack and defense would naturally be weaker compared to someone who held only one weapon with both hands.

Due to this Kazuto had to use both swords to defend against Suguha's heavy strikes. Normally he would've waited for her to tire herself out before he countered at the perfect moment, but at the current pace he would be knocked out of the ring long before that happened.

He crossed his swords, stopping Suguha's overhead strike, and pushed back with all his might. Suguha, caught unbalanced, had no choice but to step back unless she wanted to be knocked on her back.

Once again they stared at each other. This time Suguha didn't charge, as she knew the same tactic wouldn't work a second time. Kazuto however suddenly had an epiphany.

When the beta for GGO first started, Kazuto fought other players with a gun in his left hand and the photon sword in his right using kendo stances. But as time time passed his stance slowly became formless, and now appeared as if he were simply standing still. However despite the many 'holes' in the stance's defense, Kazuto found that it was the perfect stance to initiate any strike or counter any move.

Now that he thought about it, why didn't he use two photon swords? It wasn't like the system didn't allow it.

Tearing his thoughts away from the game Kazuto decided to test a theory. He slowly brought his two swords down, each of them facing the ground with the tips pointing away from his body, said body in a loose upright standing position.

"Onii-chan what are you doing?" his sister questioned, confusion evident in her voice.

Kazuto for his part just smiled behind the men, "Just trying something new. Don't worry, come at me."

Suguha gripped her shinai, annoyed at Kazuto's seemingly defenseless stance. _'You're going to regret underestimating me!'_

Slowly Suguha inched closer as she raised her shinai above her head. When she had shortened the distance between them to only five feet, she brought it down with all her strength. _'It's over Onii-chan! It's too late for you to bring your shinai up to defend yourself at this distance!'_

Seemingly sure of her victory Suguha used all her strength in the attack, aiming for the top of Kazuto's headgear.

However to her surprise Kazuto twisted his left wrist as he brought his arm up so that his left shinai's tip was touching the bottom of the tip of Suguha's shinai.

That wasn't all. Kazuto moved forward as he moved his left shinai that was slanted into a straight position as his left arm gently moved away from his body, causing Suguha's straight downward strike to be diverted into a diagonal strike that missed Kazuto.

"Wah-"

BAM!

Suguha's eyes widened as she felt the tip of Kazuto's other shinai strike her throat. She was so surprised by Kazuto's defense against her downward strike that she had forgotten about his other shinai, but she knew that, even if she had remembered about the shinai in her brother's right hand, she wouldn't have been able to block or deflect the attack.

"Tsuke***!" Setsuna called out.

Suguha was snapped out of her surprise thanks to Setsuna's judgment as the referee.

Kazuto and Suguha both stepped back to their original positions.

"Onii-chan what was that?" Suguha questioned, her previous anger totally forgotten thanks to the reveal of the new skill she had just witnessed.

Kazuto smirked behind his mask, "That was Mu no Kamae****."

Mu no Kamae, the formless stance, was a very hard stance to master. Its strongest point was the fact that it allowed the user to adapt to any attack. Hardly anyone used it due to how difficult it was to use correctly. It a stance that couldn't really be taught, only learned through experience, something Kazuto had plenty of thanks to him comparing the bullets fired at him in GGO to kendo strikes.

Suguha naturally let her surprise be known. "WHAT!?"

-line break-

"Dearest and most wonderful and awesomest Onii-chan, tell me how you learned Mu no Kamae please~" Suguha begged as she pulled on the sleeve of Kazuto's long sleeved shirt while he was eating.

Ever since he had shown her the Mu no Kamae, something that he had learned in GGO using a gun and sword, she had pestered him nonstop all the way home... Hell, she didn't even stop at home.

Kazuto turned towards Suguha with a mysterious smile, "Sugu, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Wha!? Come on Onii-chan~" Suguha whined with a cute pout, trying to use the puppy eye technique on Kazuto. Kazuto just glanced at it before he chuckled, making Suguha pout even more.

"Now now Suguha-chan, stop bothering your onii-chan and eat your dinner." Kirigaya Midori lightly scolded as she too chuckled at her daughter's behavior.

"Gochisousama deshita*****." Kazuto said as he rounded up his bowl and chopsticks being done with dinner.

"Onii-chan you're already finished!?" Suguha showed a surprised expression at how quickly her brother ate.

Said brother just chuckled and flashed Suguha a teasing smile. "Sugu, you would already be done too if you weren't pestering your dearest onii-chan."

Suguha blushed bright red as she looked into her rice bowl.

Bidding good night to his family, Kazuto made his way towards his bedroom and promptly collapsed onto bed. He was still tired, after all.

-line break-

_DING~ DONG~_

Shino quickly rushed out of the classroom door. She had already packed all her school materials into her bag minutes before the bell rang, partly due to experience, knowing what would happen if she didn't leave quickly, and partly because today was November twenty-second.

All the indifference or even disdain her fellow classmates showed her, at the moment Shino didn't care about any of it. Because today was the day she was going to meet _him _again.

The girl ran all the way to her home, not bothering to stop for breaks.

Panting, Shino gulped down a glass of water. Not bothering to change her clothes, Shino quickly laid down on her bed and pulled the Nerve Gear over her head.

"Link Start!"

Immediately Shino felt herself move at an indescribable speed, unaccountable brilliant lines of light rushing past her until she finally stopped in an empty black space.

-Hello, is your username Sinon?-

_Sinon_'s brows furrowed in confusion as she read the system window in front of her. _'Strange, wasn't all the data from the beta test deleted?'_

Despite her confusion Sinon pressed -Yes-.

-Hello and welcome back Sinon. There has a been a change of detail for the official launch of Gun Gale Online. We of Argus have decided to thank our beta testers by implementing the «Veteran System».-

_Veteran System? What's that?_

-The Veteran System allows previous beta testers to start on level five and allows the tester to keep a single item from each category that they have in their inventory . Furthermore you would be gifted the «Beta Tester» medal that increased your health by one hundred points. Would you like to use the Veteran System?-

Shino's decision was obvious and with a touch of her finger she chose her option.

-Yes-

-Thank you. Please select the items you would like to keep-

Quickly shuffling through the equipment Sinon chose the items she would like to keep. Unlike most MMORPGs where you needed a certain number of stats to equip armor or weapons GGO allowed you to equip any items. Whether or not you had the skill to use them was another matter altogether.

-Thank you :)-

-You will be teleported to Starting City momentarily-

Exactly as the system said, moments later a bright light engulfed Sinon. When it died down, Sinon found herself among hundreds of other players that had just logged on.

Deftly maneuvering her hands and fingers, Sinon opened her windows and immediately PMed Kirito.

-Kirito are you there?-

Sinon sent her message right as she typed in his username into the recipient's box._ 'Did he changed his username!? No he didn't say anything about that...wait what if he's ignoring me!?' _Just as Sinon was about to panic one minute later, a beep came up. She breathed a sigh of relief.

-Yes, where are you?-

-I just logged on, so I'm in the plaza where new players are teleported to.- _'So he didn't lie to me.'_

-I see. I'm also in the plaza, but I can't find you. Let's meet up at our secret base, okay?-

-Okay, I'll see you there.-

Just as Sinon was about to close the pm box another message popped up.

-Sinon did you use the Veteran System?-

She lifted an eyebrow, wondering what that had to with anything, but nonetheless replied.

-Yes-

-Haha, good to see I'm not the only one. Anyways make sure you distribute your points before you leave the city. You'll be safer.-

-I will, thanks.-

Sinon closed the PM-box as she maneuvered her fingers and opened her Stat-box.

Stats were also an essential element for players in MMORPGs. They consisted of:

AGI (Agility) - determines movement speed of a character  
VIT (Vitality) - determines health of a character  
DEX (Dexterity) - determines accuracy of a player  
STR (Strength) - determines the carrying capacity and ability to wield certain guns  
DEF (Defense) - determines the ability to defend against an ambush attack

Sinon quickly distributed her stat points as sniper type player.

Sinon's current stat distribution were:

AGI: 10%  
VIT: 0%  
DEX: 0%  
STR: 90%  
DEF: 0%

The main reason for this build was because of the need to use sniper rifles, which required more strength than all the other guns. Because of this all her other stats would be low, which would likely get Sinon killed if she wasn't careful. That was also the reason she added point to AGI, to be able to escape and carry the sniper rifle quickly.

Sinon knew Kirito had a different setup, namely:

AGI: 65%  
VIT: 0%  
DEX: 0%  
STR: 25%  
DEF: 10%

Kirito had chosen such a distribution mostly because of his fighting style. He needed AGI to be quick and move when he used his primary weapon, the photon sword. STR not only increased the power of the photon sword's attack but also allow him to equip and use his secondary weapon, his handgun, effectively. DEF was used to alert him to danger, and protect him long enough to either run away or strike back. Sinon knew from Kirito that he was quite confident in his natural abilities, honed through years of kendo, to protect him at such times.

DEX wasn't increased because Kirito was a close range fighter, not to mention the fact that his aim with a handgun was already surprisingly accurate. He mainly used his handgun to attack the weak points of the monsters, or to distract at a distance. He would never miss unless something happened. As for VIT, well, unless you were a Vitality type player, who would put points into it? Most times players would be dead before they got a chance to retaliate, which was why most people used armor.

Closing her window Sinon made her way towards the beginner shop. Even if she still had some items from her old avatar, that didn't mean she shouldn't pick up some beginner items, since that was also where she would receive credit and get her secondary weapon.

As she had expected, the there wasn't even a line thanks to the fact that most players weren't beta testers, and so they were receiving the beginner tutorial from the plaza.

Quickly Sinon chose a handgun and her 1000 beginner starting credits before leaving. She didn't bother getting any of the other equipment as she didn't need it. Even if she tried to sell them, they would only sell for one credit, so there was really no point.

Walking through the maze-like streets filled with post apocalyptic buildings, Sinon took about five minutes to make it towards the «Teleport Gates». As their name suggested, these gates allowed players to teleport to towns or cities that they had visited before. Unfortunately, since this was the official launch, the gate wasn't usable.

Not that Sinon needed it, as their secret base was quite close. Not even bothering to take out her weapon she walked past the desolate field that consisted only dirt, shrubs of grass, metal, and rocks.

The reason was simple, all monsters within one kilometer of the walls of starting city were what players would call beginner monsters.

These «beginner monsters» were hopelessly weak, to the point that they couldn't deal damage except pushing players around, were rather easy to kill, and never attacked first. However they were the most fearsome-looking monsters one could encounter, at least until the players reached the next dungeon that was near new towns or cities. The only catch was that players received no «experience points» for killing them.

The reason for the existence of these useless monsters was because of the fact they were training dummies, made solely for the purpose to allow beginners to accustom themselves to this virtual world.

Sinon could already see some players who had arrived earlier training themselves against the monsters. She held back a laugh as she saw one rather handsome avatar hiding behinf a female avatar, due to how fearsome the monsters looked, before running away like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Shaking her head she continued walking towards the secret base.

-line break-

The so called secret base was something that the duo had discovered by chance. It was actually an empty space beneath one of the stone trees located in the forest.

They had chanced upon the space when Sinon tripped and fell into the hole. To their surprise it was quite bright and not dirty, despite being under a tree and all. It seemed that the space was a secret safe spot that could be made into a base or a resting-place for those that knew of it.

Once they had taken the space, the master or owner of the place could then adjust the entrance to allow entry only to certain people.

Kirito, who had already arrived there, took out the sofa and table that he had bought before coming here, and sat down to wait for Sinon.

He was quite proud that he and Sinon were the only two people that knew of the space, no one else, not even Argo, knew about it.

Shhhhhh

Kirito, who was looking at his opened window, looked up towards the entrance to see Sinon sliding down.

"You're already here." Sinon noted coolly as she plopped down next to him on the couch.

Kirito closed his window as he leaned back onto the couch. "Yeah well, my speed is much higher than yours."

Sinon nodded, it wasn't like Kirito was bragging, it was a simple fact since they had fundamentally different builds.

"So are we going to hunt some monsters, or..." Kirito deliberately let his sentence fall off as he sent a questioning gaze to his partner.

Sinon just sent an icy smirked at Kirito. "Do you even need to ask?"

"PK it is"

-line break-

The duo spent the next hour hunting down any players they could find. To their surprise however, there wasn't a large amount of players outside the beginner's area, which didn't allow PKing, so they had to switch between fighting monsters and PKing.

All in all they had only PKed eleven players, a bit low but that was fine.

"Nnnnng" Kirito groaned as he stretched his phantom muscles.

"Why are you even stretching, its not like we can actually stretch our muscles here." Sinon curiously asked her companion.

"Well its a habit really, one I've gotten thanks to kendo." Kirito answered Sinon's question, receiving a raised eyebrow in response. "Anyways, we should probably go back to the city to look for the Rat, just to see if anything interesting has happened."

Sinon nodded, it had gotten rather tiring with the few amount of players to PK, and the monsters were below their level thanks to the veteran system.

The walk back was made in comfortable silence despite the gloomy scenery.

Suddenly Kirito took out his photon sword but he motioned for Sinon to stop as he spotted a green speck running towards and it was getting larger. "Can you tell what that it?" Kirito asked as he pointed towards the said speck.

Sinon nodded as she un-slung her her M40 rifle and leveled the scope horizontally towards her eye. Normally she would have lain on the ground first, but they weren't fighting monsters or players, merely identifying what the incoming speck was.

Narrowing her eyes Sinon focused in onto her target, the said speck was actually a player clad in green camouflage armor. Quite a foolish choice of clothing if you were to ask Sinon since it easily stood out in the gray landscape. "Kirito, it's a player. He seems to be waving at us. Should I shoot him down?"

Kirito thought about it for about for a moment before he ultimately shook his head negatively. "Let him come, it seems he wants something."

Well that wasn't the only reason, but just part of it. PKing all day long had gotten rather boring for Kirito.

Sinon nodded as she settled into the cold mask she usually took off near Kirito, though it should be noted that she only took off the first level of her mask and not all of it. She slung her rifle onto her back and took out her secondary weapon, a handgun, as she followed Kirito, who was walking towards the other player with his photon sword out.

It took about five minutes for them to reach each other.

"Hey, are you gals beta players?" the former speck that was revealed to be a player asked. He was quite tall and had a ruggedly handsome face.

Kirito suppressed a groan, as the male before him made the same mistake all the others did. To Kirito's dismay the Veteran system also transported their former avatar, which meant that he still looked like a cutie with long black hair.

Sinon didn't have such reservation and snickered at Kirito's plight.

Kirito threw a quick glare at her before turning his attention back towards the players before them. "Yes we are beta players, and um..."

"Kouichirou, my name is Kouichirou"

"Ah yes Kouichirou, why do you ask?" Kirito asked the now named player before them.

"Well I was wondering where the «logout» button was."

Kirito gave the player a questionable look before looking at Sinon who held the same expression as him and then looking at the chestnut haired man. "It should be on the bottom of the main menu when you open the window."

"I did but its not there!" Kouichirou was panicking now.

Kirito sighed as he opened his own window to show Kouichirou where it was. "See it's...not here!?" He frantically searched all over his menu window looking for it. "It's...it's not here..."

"Mine isn't here too!" This time it was Sinon who cried out, she too looked fearful.

Kirito placed his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm sure Argus is doing its best to fix this...error."

However before Kirito could continue, a soothing bell chimed, before a light from their feet engulfed the three players.

When the light faded, Kirito found himself in the plaza where the player were first teleported to to start their adventure in the apocalyptic world.

Looking around Kirito began to see that many other players had, like them, also been teleported to the plaza. If he were to guess, Kirito would say that all the players were being teleported to this location.

"Kirito what's happening?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure a GM will explain soon." Kirito tried to reassure Sinon, whose fearful look only increased.

But the GM didn't come soon enough as cries of displeasure were made known throughout the large gathering of players

Suddenly the sky was pitched black, blocking all light except for the artificial lights of the city. The scene looked as if the city was alone in a world that wanted to swallow everything into the darkness.

Then someone near the group of three called out, pointing towards the sky, which prompted them to look up.

It was a giant figure, cloaked in equally giant but unique hooded black military clothing. The unique military clothing was something that only GMs could wear, identifying the person as a GM. However the strangest thing about him was the fact that he didn't have a head at all.

Then the figure started to talk.

『Players, I welcome you all to my world.』

『My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world.』

『I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Logout button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of «Gun Gale Online»'s system.』

『Players, from the moment you have entered my world you have begun this death game. Yes, death game, you have heard correctly. Since the moment Gun Gale Online has launched, any player whose health has been reduced to zero has died. In this world and in the real world too. Whether it was by other players or the game's monsters doesn't matter, they have died.』

『The only way out is to make it to level one-hundred! When you are level one-hundred you will have two choices.』

『A: you can choose to escape to the real world by yourself and only yourself...』

『...or B: Challenge me to a duel if you win I'll free everyone from this death game, however if you lose you'll immediately forfeit your life.』

『...also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted...』

『the signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your vital functions.』

『To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result...』

『...regretfully, three hundred seventy-eight players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever.』

『Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and given the best treatment. So you can relax... and concentrate on beating the game.』

『But I ask of you all to understand that «Gun Gale Online» is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality... From now on, any form of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches zero, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time...』

By this point Kirito stopped comprehending any information his five sense received. Not even the light engulfing and revealing his true face could knock him out of his stupor.

'_Three hundred seventy-eight people have already died...I killed eleven of them...'_

* * *

Author's Note: Ahahahah...sorry about how late it was...you know school and stuff...PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

So how was it compared to the original?

Oh and by the way what do you think about Kirito's nickname being Thanatos? Personally I want it to be something different but I don't know what. And since Kirito won't be called Hades because he doesn't kill the Cerberus boss, I have decided to change his name.

And what about Sinon? Should I still call her Hecate? Or maybe the wife of the Greek god that Kirito will be called?

Hehehehe can you guess who Kouichirou is? If you guessed right you might know of a large plot twist I have placed inside this story MWAHAHAHAAHHA. Although some of you guys might hate me for it.

Men*-Men is what the headgear of a kendo armor is called.

Nitoryu**-Two sword style

Tsuke***-Throat

Mu no Kamae****-Literally formless stance

Gochisousama deshita*****- Literally thanks for the feast

«»

『』

**2/3/13 Author's Note: Sorry this isn't really a chapter but news I have to inform you about. Due to academic relates work, I'm going to have to go on a hiatus. Sorry D:**


	2. End of INNOCENCE

Gun Gale Online: Erebus

Summary: Kayaba Akihiko once dreamed of actualizing a world of swords, a floating castle, a fictional fantasy. But people change and Kayaba is no exception. Players welcome to Gun Gale Online where guns rule supreme and swords are obsolete... well unless you're Kirito that is. KiritoxSinonxHarem

An alternate reality where instead of SAO it was GGO that was released as the first VRMMORPG.

**WARNING NOT BETA'D YET, **

Author's Note: Mu no Kamae is based on a character from the Kurogane manga

Hope you enjoy!

Talking-"Kirito-kun"

Thoughts-'_Kyaa!?'_

Game Terms- «Photon Blade: Hades»

System Announcement/Private Messages- -congratulations-

Flashback/Dreams- _It was the best of times it was the worst of times_

Translation/Explanation- Baka(1) will be explained at the bottom of the page

Passive Skills: **Acrobatics****  
**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online wish I did though. Also will also used a bit of Kayaba Akihiko's translated speech from Baka-Tsuki for the Prologue but only once.

Author's Response Corner:

To all those who reminded me that I haven't altered the GM/Kayaba's announcement, sorry about that, I have fixed it now.

n0mster- It is true that Kayaba didn't do it canon, but this is an alternate reality where he did. Well in canon the dark undertones of the death game wasn't really touched upon too much in my opinion. I wanted to write a fanfiction where the dark tones of a death game was more prevalent.

RAcaseal- Well I'm no expert so I won't know. I just liked the idea from the Kurogane manga so I added it.

ChaosTheVoid- Well in my opinion there were three girls which greatly boosted their confidence. Besides it was only one move, I don't think the girl would have realized that they were outmatched after Kazuto just disarmed the leader.

blarg7865- No, it is based off a concept in Kurogane manga.

NightAngel0Ex- Yep, it really is Kouichirou

8Swords- Yes to the first question and for the second yep.

Nero200- Well what they kept wasn't really important it was just to make the concept of the Veteran system more real. Overall in the grand scheme of things it won't be really important except for the fact that Kirito kept his photon sword.

argentorum- Well there still will be zone with bosses, except that they won't only be the killing them to unlock new areas but also for the massive experience boost they give causing more people to want to hunt them while denying it to others

Well they won't really have an orange cursor since this is a game that accepts PKing. The only way to get is to break the rules so unless you attack someone inside the safe area, you will still be green if you PK someone outside.

And as for your third point, yeah you can probably reach level 100 faster if you PK but that won't become more important until later one since I doubt everyone will just suddenly decide to PK. And about laughing coffin, I'm still debating about their importance.

I decided to give Kayaba a bit of a more megalomanic side, while also giving him a slight god complex in how he wanted to control the world he created.

9TH- well I agree with most of your points but for clarification Sinon did kill some of the eleven people, it was just that Kirito felt it was that since he had a hand in it he was also responsible.

Arashigan16- nope you guessed incorrectly.

bakapervert- nope, in this fanfic they can die immediately right after they entered the game.

Yami no Majou077- No Death Gun will not appear because he was only created as a result of an insane asshole who lost his grip on reality...hmmm but thinking about it. I might use some of the concept for death gun.

Hunter-35- probably not this early as Kirito in Cerberus was more of a leaderish type, this one is more of a lone wolf, well half of the lone wolf due with Sinon.

Have a Little Feith- true in canon, Kirito isn't but this is a fanfic. Actually there is a reason for that, I'll give you a hint. It started because Kirito was forced to continue his kendo training when Suguha got too scared to save him.

kyapliong- Well no, I kinda went overboard with the gag with Kirito's GGO avatar and made him do something completely OOC.

Chapter 1: End of INNOCENCE

"Hurry!" Kirito said as he pulled Sinon's hand as they ran through the narrow streets of Starting City.

'_Reaching level one hundred...in two months we only barely reached level fourteen and that took two months! How long would it take to reach level one hundred!? Not to mention the levels are suppose to get harder to attain the higher your levels are. Would I die before-' _Images of his his mother, father, and sister Suguha quickly appeared in his mind. The actions he had regretted, the dreams and ambitions he hadn't accomplished yet. _'I am not going to die, I REFUSE TO DIE!'_

Then one final image came into Kirito's mind, the last faces the victims of his PKing had shown. The players that would never reunite with their families or even have a chance to survive because of his actions. _'No...I shouldn't think about that now. I have to survive, that what's most important at this moment.'_

"Kiri-Ki-Kirigaya-se-sempai, I-I-We'-re going to di-die a-aren't we!?" 'Sinon's' voiced stuttered out in pure fear.

Kirito's head snapped backwards so quickly you would have sworn that it would break off, _'How does she know my na-'_ Kirito's unfinished question was answered when his eyes laid on 'Sinon's' face-or rather the virtually perfect equivalent face of Asada Shino and his foot froze.

Moments ago in his detached state, Kirito had ignored his surroundings, including the disappearance of his false avatar and appearance of his real face, even the further explanation of Kayaba Akihiko was ignored. It was only thanks to the first scream that Kirito was broken out of his stuper.

When Kirito had snapped out of his stupor, he quickly decided that they needed to reach their base to gather their bearings in this death game. In this chaos it would be too risky to stay at the plaza, there were too many things could go wrong.

But in his haste, he hadn't taken the time to look at Sinon's face. This of course led him to be flabbergasted that the same whimpering girl he had saved before was the cold, calm and collected sniper Sinon.

"Come on Sinon! We have to hurry and go to the base!" Kirito said, ignoring the fact that his classmate was his PKing partner. He could sort that out later after they were safe and alone. However Sinon refused to budge, her doll-like body still shivering.

Seeing that Sinon wasn't going to move, Kirito let go of their hands, eliciting a fearful gasp from the now black haired girl. He quickly placed his left arm horizontally across Sinon's back and the same with his right arm only at the backsides of her knees, eliciting only a small cry from the smaller girl..

Sweeping Sinon off her feet and carrying her bridal style, Kirito resumed his run towards the base. There was nothing romantic about the situation, just a fearful male carrying a shivering wreck of female across the streets.

Kirito ignored the increased pressure in his arms as Sinon gripped his arms even tighter than before as they passed the gates of their safe haven. Kirito just couldn't bring himself to pay attention, not when he had to use all of his concentration to avoid the monsters that would have target them.

Despite his higher level, fighting with the current Sinon at his side would be nothing than a burden. He would have to fight the monster, while blocking the monster's attempt to kill the trembling girl.

Considering that the system included «Backlash Damage» from blocking attacks from monsters to even guns, Kirito's health would still go down considering that he was a dodging type player and therefore hadn't placed much points into his defense stat, since that was the only stat that would allow Kirito actually block the attacks with minimal worry for the backlash damage.

Glancing down at Sinon, Kirito couldn't help but to be reminded of something similar, as if it was something experienced before. His eyes softened as he recalled it now, it was a time before he and Suguha had their falling out.

Eight years ago, for whatever reason Suguha had been bullied. Kirito naturally couldn't have stand for this and attacked the bullies, but for all his efforts the six year old was beaten to the ground by the numeral superior group.

But even so, Kirito didn't regret it, he had hugged Suguha who was a quivering mess saying "Don't worry, Onii-chan will protect you no matter what." over and over again.

Thinking back, it was a very cheesy thing to say, but that the moment it was the perfect phrase since it stopped Suguha from quivering.

"Don't worry Sinon, I'll protect you and get you out of here." Although the shivering didn't stop, Kirito's word did tone it down a little.

With a slight hesitation Kirito opened his mouth once more "Definitely" Kirito said more to reassure himself than to Sinon.

* * *

Sinon hugged her knees tighter as she secretly glanced at the boy who had been her partner during the beta test of the game.

He didn't look much different from his avatar except that his hair didn't reach past his neck anymore and that he was a bit more masculine, not that it was enough to mistaken him for a girl every once in awhile.

Sinon had never expected in her wildest dreams that «Kirito» would be Kirigaya Kazuto, the relatively young genius turned semi celebrity overnight due to his victory at the kendo tournament.

Still that explained a few things such as her partner's skill in the sword.

But that wasn't important at the moment, no what was more important that she was going to die.

She didn't know what was worse, the fact that she was going to die or that fact that she was stuck in a world of guns.

'_I should have never started playing this cursed game...If I hadn't played this game I would still be home. If I hadn't played this game my life wouldn't be at risk. If I hadn't played this game I would have nevered killed those eleven people. If I hadn't played this game I would...'_

Sinon stopped and blink as she pondered what else would be different if she hadn't played Gun Gale Online. But the more she thought about it the more she realized that her real life was just as bad. Sure her chances at dying were immensely lower there, but her lifestyle was worse there.

Bullying

Ostracization

Loneliness

Thinking on loneliness, Sinon wondered if her body was being carted towards the hospital at the moment, she did leave alone. Realizing her trail of thoughts, Sinon quickly banished them into the dark recesses of her mind.

Pondering on her lonely lifestyle has never been good for her. She always felt a sense of abandonment whenever she thought about living alone...away from her parent...ever since she...murdered _that_ criminal...

'_Am I a criminal now?'_ Sinon wondered when she thought about the eleven people she shot in cold blood. Sinon felt her eyes traveled towards her black clothed companion once more as she thought. _'I wonder how he is taking it.'_

Kirito was sitting with his back against the wall, his hollow eyes just staring ahead. To her own surprise she felt little guilt or horror when she thought about the eleven people she killed. _'Why do those death feel numb to me? Is it because they died in the game? Or am...have I become twisted?' _

Sinon felt horror as she stared at the palm of her hand, for two months she tried to convince herself that killing in this 'game' was the same as real life, but in the ironic twist it had actually happened. But for those eleven death she caused she only felt numb. _'But why am I still scared?'_

Without her awareness Sinon's eyes began to droop, glancing at the clock, she knew that it was late. _'Already past midnight huh...trapped in this...' _Her train of thoughts slurred as the drowsiness increased before she finally succumbed to sleep.

_Asada Shino trembled as she held the Nerve Gear, holding last minutes doubts as she internal wrestled whether to put it on and enter the world of guns._

_Earlier she had already downloaded the necessary hard drive for the recent fad, «Gun Gale Online», but she was debating on whether to actually go through with her self designed therapy._

_It was only a whim when the idea first started, just nothing more than an internal joke when she entered a contest to win a chance to beta test the game, but to her surprise she had actually won. From there one Shino's whim started to form into an idea._

_To cure her hoplophobia, she will enter the world of guns. Grasping their handles, firing them, aiming them at her targets, and pulling the triggers she will desensitize herself._

_She continued to stare at the helmet for what seemed like eternity before she gulped and finally wore the helmet._

_Tenderly laying on her bed, her body trembling with nervousness Shino opened her mouth "Link Start!" she said with more force than necessary._

* * *

_『__Thank you for your patience, please follow the signs to pick up your weapon.__』_

_Sinon warily eyed the GM before her as he finished the tutorial. It wasn't the fact that he was dressed like a war veteran general from those movies she had seen before or even the decorative scars that littered his face, no it was the handgun that he had in his gun holster at the left side of his waist._

_Steering her eyes away from the small but dangerous weapon, the black-haired girl made her ways toward the beginner's shop._

_Thanks to the fact that Sinon had logged later than the majority of player, the shop was sparsely populated. _

_Sinon's blood chilled when she walked into the shop._

_Sinon's breathing quickened as her eyes took in the rows of guns that were displayed onto the wall. Rather than a game the scene resembled something from her nightmare._

"_Hello youngin may I help you?"_

_Sinon eyes turned toward the direction of the voice. He was an old man with grey hair and a scar running down his cheek with a weary appearance only enhanced by the wrinkles on his face. If the game designers planned to give the NPC in front of Sinon the appearance of a retired veteran they succeeded._

"_A-ah, yes I'm a beginner and I need help choosing a g-gu-g-gun." Sinon said as she finally stuttered the last word out._

"_Hmmmm, well let's see what I can do." The NPC said as he motioned Sinon to follow him._

_From there on he began to speak a language that Sinon didn't understand such as the calibrations, caliber of bullets proper care of guns, and etc. What she did understand were the advantages and disadvantages that the NPC said._

_Sinon knew that she didn't want to be up close and personal with her battles, not after the robbery incident. She didn't want to be close to her targets and shot at by their guns. Not this soon at least._

_So Sinon chose the closest thing to a sniper rifle as her primary weapon and moved onwards to the secondary weapon section._

_That's when Sinon's blood went from chilled to frozen_

_Dozens of handguns all of them lined across a single wall geometrically perfect, no space was wasted as each gun fit perfectly with each other like pieces to a puzzle. And each and every one of them was fairly reminiscent of a «Black Star: Type 54» some more so than others. Each and every single one of them reminded of the weapon that an eleven year old girl used to murder a man._

"_I-are there any secondary weapons besides...those?" Sinon finally asked as she realized that the NPC was staring at her silently as if telling her "hurry up!"_

_Following the store clerk towards a rather noticeable corner of the room, the clerk motioned Sinon towards the glass counter wherein in it laid a wide assortment of combat knives._

_Letting out the unknown breath she was holding, Sinon randomly picked one. It had a black handle, and a thick blade about six inches long. _

_Thanking the clerk Sinon left the store, although it is to be noted that it was more out of the habits ingrained into Sinon rather than her own actions after all the NPC was just an NPC._

_Calming herself Sinon opened her menu and with a swipe opened her weapons inventory. With ease Sinon pressed her finger on the combat knife opening the submenu options for the weapon and pressed equipped. Out of the corner of her she caught a flash of light and then the sudden weight of the knife on her left hip._

_Next it was time to equip her main weapon, Sinon moved her finger above the rifle but she found herself frozen, her finger refusing to budge or even go closer to the weapon. 'Calm down Sinon, this isn't real. It's just a bunch of codings made to look like one.' Sinon reasoned with herself in her mind. _

'_...but it still functions like the real thing.' A traitorous part of her mind whispered into her ear._

_Steeling herself Sinon manipulated the sub menu to open but not with the trembling of her finger as she pressed «Equip». Again there was a flash of light and sudden materialization of weight but this time on her back._

_Her heartbeat slightly high and her fingers trembling Sinon closed the menu. She had to wince as she saw herself in the reflection in the window of one of the numerous shops within Starting City._

_Her avatar had a doll-like appearance much like her real body. 'It would have been better if I had one of those avatars with a muscular build.' At least that way she could have at least pretended that it was someone easier._

_Her clothes were like that of a military officer's, bland and convenient. The dull grey color of the uniform fitted nicely with the black handle of the knife sticking on her belt, along with the strap that was slung horizontally across her chest. But the real reason for her wince was the rifle that the strap was attached to._

_The image would have been of a perfect soldier or something close to one except for the fact that the body was that of an innocent teenage girl. Sinon had to snort ruefully at that thought. 'You can't call a girl who has killed before innocent,not in the slightest sense.'_

_With disdained look of self loathing, Sinon walked away from her reflection and towards the general direction of one of the numerous gates of Starting City that led towards the «Dungeons». _

_Well they weren't really dungeons in the traditional MMORPG kind of sense as they weren't mazes within castles and the such, but rather fields that fulfilled the same role. It was just easier to call them dungeons._

_Sinon had to consciously stop herself from running as her eyes took in the surrounding players, like a gazelle eyeing a horde of lions surrounding it._

_Whether it was male or female, all of them held guns, which was to be expected but still nothing had prepared Sinon for this moment. What made it worse was each male looked gruff and had muscular builds that towered over her, while the females had a sort of amazonian beauty to them._

_It was rather unnerving to be the only player with an avatar with a doll-like body and face. But even though none of them approached her, Sinon could feel the stares stabbing her in the back. And so with an unconscious effort she quicken her pace not quite a run but not a leisurely walk either._

* * *

"_Krahhh!"_

_The cry of the anguished rang hopelessly through the air as it dissolved into a million pieces of polygons. _

_An audible release of air was heard next, Sinon finally lowered her rifle as she saw her target destroyed. _

_Today was the fourth day she logged on, and although she still trembled Sinon was at least able to shoot her gun and defeat monsters now._

_She had learn more about guns in four days than she had ever learned in her whole life, having needed to take care of the gun as if it was the real thing. Sometimes Sinon hated how Kayaba Akihiko made the Virtual Reality so life like especially in gun care._

_Why couldn't it be have limitless ammo, indestructible weapon, or the such?_

_But a part of Sinon realized that the more realistic the better it would help cure her phobia._

_Still it didn't make her feel better._

_Sinon was almost out of bullets and she needed more unless she wanted to die. Sinon held her rifle sandwiched between her right arm and torso and began her trek towards the city._

_That was when it happened, no clues or warnings were issued just the raining of bullets towards Sinon's back._

"_KYAAAAAAA!" _

_Her voice laced with fear as the ground around exploded as the bullets pounded it. Sinon tried to run but one of the bullets tore through her right ankle making her fall onto the floor._

_Crawling desperately away as fearful tears streamed down her face, Sinon's face was the epitome of terror. _

'_No! No! No!'_

_Her fragile fingers scraped the ground as she willed them to pull her away from certain death. _

'_Why!? Why is he shooting at me!'_

_Images of 'that' incident flashed through her mind. It was just like at that time_

_No...it was even worse._

'_NO!'_

_The robber yelling, people screaming in fright as the robber shot the ceiling with his gun. Bits of rubble from the damage had fallen onto Sinon's eyes making her sob harder._

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

_Bullets still flew at Sinon piercing her back and legs._

'_I'm going to die! Please no!'_

_Bang! _

"_NOOOO!" Sinon shrieked as a bullet nearly missed her head by a few millimeters. Terror like she had never known before flooded her system._

_Clack..._

_Eyes widening Sinon saw that in her pitiful bout for survival, her hand had latched onto her rifle that flown out of her hands when the bullets first started to rain on her._

'_It doesn't matter...anymore'_

_Sinon thought as her face laid onto the cold, dirt ground her eyes losing their light as she resigned herself to her fate. _

_Her fear started to numb as the bullets still rained towards near, each impact sent tiny vibration towards Sinon through the ground. _

'_What's the point anymore...I'll die anyways...'_

_Her eyes looked numbly at the her rifle latched in her with no point in its existence._

'_I'm going to die...'_

"_Die..."_

_At that single moment something within Sinon snapped as the numbing sensation turned to ice _

_Her eyes which had lost its passion to survive had returned under the cold and frosty gaze._

_With surprisingly calm movements Sinon lifted her body up towards her attacker who was still running towards her assault rifle no longer in hand but rather a handgun._

_However it no longer matter to Sinon as the only thought she had was to kill, eerily with an impassive face, slowing of heartbeat, and clear mind Sinon lined her sight with the rifle's._

_Closing her left eye and concentrating all her focus on her finger and right eye, she felt as if her eyesight had drastically improved as the blurry image from before had suddenly sharpened to the point that she could make out each little detail on her assaulter._

_BANG!_

_The bullet left the rifle barrel undeterred as it made its way through the air with a single target. _

_It was all over too quickly within three seconds before the assaulter even knew it, his head had burst into a million polygons with his body soon following._

_He was dead_

_Kachack!_

_Sinon panted as her rifle fell from its previous position, the icy calm demeanor from before vanishing as tears begun to fall with renewed vigor. _

'_I did it...'_

_That was her only thought. Not only had she braced herself enough to kill her attacker, but she had managed to do without a shred of fear for guns._

_Glancing at the clock built in the side of her vision she read"2:34 PM" _

_The skirmish with hardly lasted more than five minutes, but to Sinon those five minutes were life changing._

_From that point onwards the name Sinon became synonymous with the name «Hecate», the PKer whose shot never missed its mark in the dark of the night and was furthered feared when she became the other half of the strongest PK duo «Erebus» with «Thanatos»._

"Mmmrrmmm" Rubbing hers Sinon opened her eyes and immediately regretted her action. The root filtered sunlight had mercilessly slammed into her retina.

With ease born from repetition, Sinon began to stretch. Her eyes widened when she remembered yesterdays events and her that was stifling her yawn fell to her lap.

But something odd...then she realized it. Kirito wasn't in the base anymore

Searching around frantically Sinon discovered a small slip of paper on the table. Picking it up, Sinon began to read it.

_Sinon, I'm going towards «Lizard Orc Desert»_

_to kill some monsters to clear my mind a bit._

_Don't worry I'll be back._

_Kirito_

'_Only you Kirito, only you.'_ Sinon thought. _'Only you would go out the day after the death game to clear your mind by killing monsters.'_

'_Kirito is already outside killing monsters...did he already get past killing those eleven players?' _Truth be told Sinon envied the fact that Kirito could so quickly get over it when she had been traumatised.

It was just like when they first met, and Kirito defeated her with a _worthless_ photon sword.

Thinking about the issue Sinon suddenly felt anger at the issue. She never thought about winning or losing much only completing her goal, but when it concerned Kirito she just couldn't stand it! _'If he can recover this quickly and face this death game SO CAN I!'_

Her footsteps almost stomps now, Sinon latched onto the door handle. However just like the first time she handled her gun, her hands trembled unable to move. _'Calm down...HE could do it why can't you!'_

However no matter the amount of mental encouragement she couldn't bring herself to opened the door towards the outside of their secret base.

Sinon knew that she only had one way that she could open the door. Her heart rate slowed, her blood chilled, and her eyes became frosty as she became the machine made of ice.

Opening the door, Sinon walked away from the base letting it lock by itself towards Kirito all with a sense of smug sense of satisfaction. _'Ha, if you can do it Kirito so can I.'_

As she walked, she knew her reason to face the death game due to her rivalry with Kirito was just a lie. She knew that she was lying to herself, she was only drawing strength from her bond with Kirito.

She knew it, she knew she couldn't have gone out with only her strength, she knew that was just a fragile and weak girl inside that would rather be inside the base sobbing her heart out.

She knew, Sinon knew, but SHE REFUSED TO BOW DOWN JUST LIKE THAT!

* * *

If Sinon thought that Kirito had gotten over killing eleven players and was focusing on passing the death game, she was dead wrong.

Kirito trudged through the Lizard Orc Desert. Despite it being called a desert, the places was littered with metal pieces, however these metal pieces looked as if something melted them.

The PK player with the moniker of Thanatos walked akin to a zombie, gun in one hand and sword in the other.

Kirito still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he had killed eleven players. Well he could but...he was filled with horror at his actions.

Since he was young and was forced into kendo by his strict grandfather-by-law, he had always held a sliver of resentment and envy to those kendo players who had the freedom to choose, unlike him.

Kirigaya Kazuto was called the "Kendo Genius" by the newspapers and his teachers, but to his peers he was the "Kendo Demon."

Kirito couldn't help it.

His grandfather had enrolled him into a kendo school nearby to improve his skills with others his age, but seeing those satisfied and joyful faces as they practiced their katas, while he bitterly went through the motion never once enjoying made Kirito hold a sliver of resentment and envy turned hate and that hate was used in every match, practice or official tournaments otherwise.

Those who were on his level of skill wouldn't have noticed, but to those kendoist who had a huge gap of skills compared to Kirito suffered from Kirito. He would use more force than necessary and injured his opponents giving birth to fear.

Kirito knew he was a bit of sadist when he started to consciously realized he put more force than necessary, but he couldn't stop. To him this was his only outlet for his pain and anger brought to him by his grandfather. Not even when his mother introduced him to computers could it stop his bitter resentment.

But killing and bringing pain to his kendo opponents were different.

The guilt of those two actions were different. Completely different.

When Kirito had realized of his sadistic nature, he was horrified. But as time went on he began to accept it as part of him.

Murder was completely different, you can't control it. The end result was always the same, a life would extinguish like the passage of time there was no return. When you realized that with your own hands you took an innocent life.

A life that didn't deserve it. Those eleven people just wanted to have fun in this game, and with a single swipe of his arm he took it away. Kirito had wondered why when he ended their lives why their facial expression were stricken with pain and horror.

_『__the signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your vital functions.__』_

'_They must have experienced those electromagnetic pulse that fried their brains...' _Kirito thought with horror. He didn't even want to imagine the pain they must have been when their Nerve Gear fried their brains.

His thoughts, he realized, hadn't changed from yesterday. Those thoughts had kept him awake for most of the night before he finally succombed to sleep, but it wasn't a pleasant sleep, it wasn't even a dreamless sleep but one filled with murder and blood.

When Kirito had woken up, he was lost. He didn't know what to do. But he had finally decided to come here to kill monsters to survive in this death game.

He knew that it wasn't the real reason he came here; he came here to kill sensely, to make his brain too busy to think about the horrors that he had accomplished with his own hands.

Kirito snorted. _"Big good that did.'_

The «Lizard Orc Soldiers» that littered the dungeon were level five monsters that Kirito could easily kill with his photon sword.

But since four hours ago when he first entered the dungeon he had never killed a single monster.

Kirito just couldn't bring himself to commit the act, whenever he was about to finish the remaining life points, the monster's face would always morph into one of the pained face of the players' he had killed.

He was in a way glad that Sinon wasn't close enough to see it, because if she did see it Kirito was sure that coupled with her past she would break.

Since the first four monsters he had tried to kill, Kirito had either avoided or ran away from the Lizard Orc Soldiers.

Walking aimlessly lost in thought, Kirito's eyes widened when he saw another player in the dungeon and facing off a Lizard Orc Soldier.

Lizard Orc Soldiers were about six feet five inches tall, and the player facing the monster was only a bit shorter than the Lizard Orc Soldier and so if Kirito had to guess, the player was around six feet.

The male player had a muscular build in contrast to the other players who had rather...unflattering builds. His short blond hair accented his chiseled face nicely.

The player who looked to be in his midtwenties wore a grey wife beater along with baggy camouflage grey pants and black combat boots.

However the most distinctive thing about that player were his weapons: a handgun and a combat knife.

During the beta test of Gun Gale Online there existed many players that have become famous for their own strength. However out of all those players two stood out the most due to their unique fighting style.

One was «Thanatos», the only player able to use the lethal joke weapon the photon sword. Many rumors surrounding Kirito, rumors such as that he was actually a NPC, or a super genius, or even Kayaba Akihiko himself due to the fact that no one could conceivably slice through the bullets with a sword. The skill needed was inhumane. However Kirito did and his name skyrocketed, of course only two people knew him by his actual username, Sinon and Argo, the others just knew his moniker.

Then there was the other player nicknamed «Soldier Satrizer». No one knew about this mysterious player except the fact that he never hunted monster and exclusively PKed. The other fact was that the player only used «CQC», aka close quarter combat, ro a frightenly effect degree. Then there was the speculation that Satrizer was actually a real soldier, but no one really knew, but the rumor stuck resulting in his moniker.

Kirito and Satrizer had never actually met face to face before so it was quite a huge surprise to see his rival in fame fighting.

The soldier's movement was fluid and graceful with practiced ease, as he dance around the monster using the barest of movement. Although Lizard Orcs Soldiers didn't have the highest amount of strength, they were considered one of the fastest monster for the beginning stages of GGO excluding some bosses.

To see a player dance and toy around with one of them was shocking to be truthful. And then a single gunshot rang out.

The monster dropped to the floor as the sequence of death began for it.

In GGO, there was two crucial places on every beings including players that if shot would mean almost certain death: the head and heart. The heart was usually protected by some sort of armor and the layers of flesh made of data before reaching the heart could save a player or monster's life, in contrast if you get shot in the face, unless your health was very high it was a sure way to death.

But hitting the isn't easy compared to the larger and slower body, the head was constantly moving around. This was especially true for monsters as they instinctually(?) moved their head as much as possible.

"You know if you don't say anything I might accidently shoot you." Satrizer suddenly said out of the blue.

Kirito blinked as he realized that he was staring at Satrizer. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was staring."

Satrizer made some flexing movements although it wasn't need in the virtual world, Kirito suspected that it was done out of habit after he also swung his sword after a fight too, and slowly walked towards Kirito after he placed his weapons away.

"So what are you doing out here? I mean I'm surprised that someone as young as you would be out here already. I mean yesterday that bastard just trapped us all here and made us fend for our lives."

"I wanted to clear my head..."

Kirito had to suppressed an annoyed look at Satrizer' failed attempt to hide his laugh. "Sorry but I just find it funny that you wanted to clear your head by fighting monsters."

"How did you-"

Satrizer snorted, "It's not that hard to figure out, I mean what else would you be here for? If you wanted to walk you would've gone someplace safer."

Kirito just nodded not seeing any fault Satrizer's reasoning.

"So have you've cleared your mind yet...Thanatos?"

"How did you-"

Once again Kirito was cut off before had the chance to finish his question. "It's easy, I mean who else would foolishly walk out into the dungeons with a photon sword unless he could use it." Satrizer said as he pointed at Kirito's belt where his photon sword was held. "Well unless you're suicidal but I doubt that. So how many have you killed?"

'_Is he a real soldier? His observation skills are excellent to able to figure out my identity just like that.' _"Zero."

"What" Satrizer didn't bother hiding his surprise. "Is something wrong?" The older's man voice suddenly shifted from light hearted to serious in an instant.

Kirito tried not to squirm under the man's gaze. The older man's gaze seemed to pierce into Kirito's thought without relent.

"How many?" The question was said with a stern and hard voice greatly surprising Kirito.

"What?"

"How many players did you kill?" Kirito's eyes widened as his body shifted into a battle stance.

Satrizer seeing this raised his hand in a disarming manner. "Wait chill! I won't attack you or anything."

Kirito still didn't relax as he continued to stare at the man before him, photon sword in hand.

"Wait I'm not blaming you or anything, " Kirito eyes widened in further in shock. "I know what you must be feeling. You must be feeling guilt at killing them right."

Kirito didn't lower his guard but his eyes stared hard into the blonde man's with a small hope. "Guilt, it really isn't a pleasant feeling is it?"

"yea..."

"But you know it really isn't your fault you know? You're just an innocent player that was caught up in all this mess that bastard created. You didn't know that those player's would really die, you-"

"shut up." Kirito said, his voice barely a whisper.

"What?"

"SHUT UP!" Kirito lost it. Anger, guilt, fear, horror, every negative emotion that Kirito had bottled till that moment was finally unleashed. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO SEE THOSE FACE IN PAIN AND HORROR AS THEIR BRAINS WERE FRIED TO CRISP THANKS TO THAT MADMAN! THE REALIZATION THAT YOU'RE THE ONE THAT CAUSED THE DEATH OF ELEVEN INNOCENT PLAYERS! THAT YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU DIDN'T ACTUALLY PK THOSE INNOCENT PLAYERS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!"

"Are you done now." Satrizer's voice was eerily calm as she stared Kirito, his hand no longer in the surrounding position earlier

"N-"

SLAP!

If this was a regular MMORPG, Satrizer would have received a warning for attacking another player even if it was just a slap. But in GGO as long as you don't attack another player within the city confines it was ok, in fact during the beta test it was even encouraged to PK other players.

But at the moment Kirito was just stunned.

"I know you're just a but...DON'T YOU DARE SAY I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Satrizer's eyes softened as he placed an assuring hand on Kirito's shoulder. "I know that it was out of your power, but sometimes life f**ks us over you know?"

Satrizer looked up towards the grey, cloudy sighed before letting out a tiring sigh before looking back at Kirito again. "I was training to be a soldier, so I was always expected to take a knife, but just not this soon when I'm playing a game to make my skills better. But I was prepared so I guess it didn't impact me as much as you did when I killed twenty-four people before Kayaba announced the beginning of this death game."

Silence met Satrizer's words.

"But I want you to know that no matter what anybody says, it wasn't your fault. Sure there will be people who say that, but there always will be. But just to be safe don't tell anyone."

"How? How do you deal with the guilt of killing those people?" Kirito's tone was laced with vain hope, just telling Satrizer to reassure him that he wasn't guilty of anything.

"Well...I won't lie to you. There isn't anything I'm doing to curb my guilt. Instead I focus on why I want to live and make it pass this death game. I want to make it alive to see my family again," Satrizer chuckled a bit, not one of humor but one of necessity something to lighten up the depressing mood. "that and just that I refused to die."

"Yeah, I don't want to die either..." Kirito's words didn't reach his ears as memories of his family permeated his mind just like yesterday. The loving mother he had, the sister who he grown apart only to grow closer but forced apart by the death game, his father who had supported him as much as possible despite his absence at the house, and finally his grandfather...

Ever since that man died, Kirito had never once visited his grave not even once. Despite his stern and selfish desire that molded Kirito into the bitter that he was today, he had given him a great gift that would either help him survive in the world of guns or kill him. _'At the very least I'll visit your grave...oji-san...'_

"-rito, Kirito! Kirito!"

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Kirito said while the distant look still existed in his eyes, but at least he was paying attention now.

"As I was saying don't think about it too much for now, just focus on surviving you can worry about guilt after you clear the game." The blonde man flashed a smile at Kirito, even though they both knew that it was not possible to not think about it.

They didn't even know if how long it would take, there was always _that_ option. True it would shorten their time trapped but...the consequences of such action, neither wanted to ponder on such a cruel option.

"So...kid you should probably go back now, it won't do you any good if you think in such a dangerous place you know." With a light shove Satrizer pushed Kirito the way he came from.

"...thank you Satrizer..."

"Wait how did-"

"Your way of fighting is a dead giveaway. Only one player uses CQC with a handgun and combat knife you know? Besides you're more famous than you give credit for." Kirito said with wry smile, as Satrizer laughed.

"Well I guess this is how you felt when I cut you off. See ya kid!" With that said the two player walked their own directions.

Despite Kirito's outwardly calm demeanor his inner thoughts and feelings were in turmoil. True he accepted what Satrizer said concerning his priorities. _'It's true that I should focus on my reason for living and worry about the guilt after I get out of GGO, but life isn't simple as you said Satrizer...'_

'_No matter what, the faces of those eleven players will haunt me for the rest of my life unconsciously or not.' _Kirito clenched his fist as his inner turmoil continued.

The walk towards the base felt short even to Kirito even as he passed from one dungeon to another.

The gray grass, the crystal trees, the scrap metal, none of them caught Kirito's attention. It was rather convenient that he hadn't encountered any monsters at all-

Without warning something raced towards Kirito and Kirito barely raised his arm to defend. But even so Kirito was flung backwards onto his back with nearly a quarter of his health depleted.

'_Dammit!' _Kirito cursed inwardly as he stared at the monster. Kirito knew that she should've have focused on going back towards the base first, but he hadn't really cared. And now he was paying for it with his health. _'I should've expected this...'_

The monster before him was categorized as a «Sub-Boss». Not quite as strong as the «Region Bosses»that players needed to defeat in order to open the access to that region, but far stronger and more dangerous than mook level monsters. Typically it was advised to to face them with a full party in contrast to region boss battled that typically consisted of several parties.

«Rorak: The Lizard Orc General», that was the name of the the sub-boss before Kirito. The heavily decorated scrap metal armor that the Rorak wore was horribly looking, but it was far better than the Lizard Orc Soldier's armor, which weren't even armor at all but rather rags that they covered themselves with.

The Lizard Orc General's green body looked as if steroids was needlessly pumped it into it and its tail waved back and forth with drool coming out of its mouth.

Slowly Kirito stood up as he eyed the monster before him, the Lizard Orc General growled right back in response.

Pshionnnnn

The photon blade came into existence as Kirito turned on the Kagemitsu G4.

"Yraghh!" With a battle cry Kirito charged at the monster just as the Lizard Orc General's clawed feet leapt towards him.

The Lizard Orc General's right clawed hand made a horizontal strike towards Kirito, but having already seen it coming Kirito duck under and made an upward slash with his right hand lowering the Rorak's health by about five percent.

However the satisfaction was short lived as the ugly green clawed hand made a swipe towards Kirito, forcing him to dodge once more. But that attack didn't end just there as the Lizard Orc General used the momentum and kept twirling left resulting in his tail lashing out in a full circle towards Kirito.

Kirito who was forced to jump in order to evade the blow, brought his right arm down and his left hand up as he aimed his handgun towards the sub-boss.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

If the Lizard Orc Soldiers were fast, then there was a reason why Rorak was known as the Lizard Orc General. Its speed was numerous times faster as Kirito watched it deftly dodge with sudden change in movements and leaps all the while coming closer towards Kirito at blinding speed.

And so Kirito charged at Rorak once more, knowing that a handgun would probably never do much damage even if the bullet landed.

The battle continued as Kirito dodged in every way he could ignoring the occasional nick as his Kagemitsu G4 damaged the arms, legs, and even the tail of the Lizard Orc General. Never once could Kirito exploit an opening to strike the Lizard Orc General's head.

The battle raged on his the two opponents attacked and dodged each others blows. Even though the taller of the who was at least twice as tall as the shorter one clad in black was furiously attacking, it was clear that the shorter one had the advantage.

'_There!'_ Kirito eyes narrowed as saw the opening and with the sub-boss' health at only twenty percent and direct strike to the head from the Kagemitsu G4 would spell certain doom.

Kirito used the thick, green arms of the monster as a slight lever to jump up and raised his right hand intent on bringing down to finish...however instead of Rorak's ugly mug of a face it was the horrified and fearful looks of a twenty year old man.

The man had brown beard and a slightly plump face, but overall it was handsome and good looking. He probably also had a family waiting for him that he would see thanks to Kirito's sword that pierced his heart.

"GAH!" Kirito cried out in pain as he was struck downward by an overstrike blow from the clenched fists of the Lizard Orc General.

Kirito's body smashed into his ground as he felt the nerves on his back run amok in pain. _'Why does it hurt so much!? Why?'_ A flash memory passed Kirito's eyes as he remembered the words from the tutorial.

_『__Although it is not recommended, there is a pain limiter feature that you can calibrate. But be warned that if you calibrate too low, the pain you deal with will be as if it was real.__』_

'_Did Kayaba turn it all the way off!?'_ However Kirito no longer had anytime to think as his eyes took in the ugly face of the monster that had his hand raised preparing to deal the final blow to the remainder of Kirito fifteen percent health bar, his face no longer that handsome brown haired man but a monster in all its morbid glory intent on delivering death.

'_No! I don't want to die! Move! Move!'_ Kirito tried to will his right hand faster but he knew it would be too late but suddenly...

**BANG!**

A single bullet struck Rorak between the eyes delivering only about five percent of damage even thought it was core weak spot. But it didn't as that one attack allowed Kirito enough time for his right hand to flash forward as the photon blade pierced the sub-boss' face.

Panting, Kirito stood up ignoring the sound of the sub-boss' body dissolve into a billion polygon like all death in the virtual world. Instead his attention was focused on his savior and the only single person he knew who could shoot so accurately.

'_How ironic that the girl I save from bullies weeks before would end up saving my life today.'_

Walking forward Kirito was soon within a few foot of his savior. "Are alright?"

Her icy tone surprised but, _'I guess this was her way of coping huh...'_

"Yes, thank you for saving my life Asada-san."

"Sinon"

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Sinon, and your name is Kirito. I saved you because you're my partner that's all there is to it."

Kirito looked at the girl before him, this wasn't the trembling bullied girl known named Asada Shino, but rather Sinon the sniper cold as ice. "Yes, but even so thank you Sinon."

Kirito gave her a small smile and to his surprise Sinon returned even if it was only for the briefest of moments. "Let's go back Sinon, I'm tired."

"That sounds reasonable."

«Erebus» began to walk back towards their base, with «Thanatos» clenching his fist. _'It's true that the guilt probably won't be dismissed or even forgotten a single day in this death game and beyond, but I don't want to die. I still have so many things I want to do before my life ends, and I refuse to die here, not just here either I won't allow myself to die even when I cleared this game until I have accomplished what I wanted to do in life.'_

'_That's a promise.'_

Author's Note: Sorry for the long hiatus but I wasn't high off Sword Art Online anymore...and so my motivation was at an all times low for Sword Art Online fanficiton.

Originally I didn't plan to put the last battle scene there but rather than Kirito going back and meeting Sinon along the way where they then talk a bit. Of course the talk would be a bit therapeutic for Kirito who would then go back towards the base and basically convince himself, this in my eyes would be a better option. I'm sure you readers prefer a battle too.

Anyways I was wondering on what you think Sinon's moniker should be. So far its between Nyx, Hecate, Nemesis, and that's about it. But of you have any other suggestion please do tell but on a side note, I want that moniker to be a goddess related to Erebus.

And finally what did you think?

«»

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